Religulous (2008)
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 153
Fresh: 106 | Rotten: 47
Religulous is funny and offensive in equal measure, and aims less to change hearts and minds than to inspire conversation.
Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 14
Religulous is funny and offensive in equal measure, and aims less to change hearts and minds than to inspire conversation.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 37,862
Movie Info
Borat director Larry Charles follows host Bill Maher as he travels the continents interviewing various subjects about God and religion. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Watch It Now
Cast
ADVERTISEMENT
Religulous Trailer & Photos
All Critics (155) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (106) | Rotten (47) | DVD (6)
Over-extended but nonetheless thought provoking and humorous documentary.
Top CriticMaher is essentially and professionally a comic, and the measure of this movie is not just the thoughts it provokes but the laughs it generates.
I think this is an important movie, challenging, many beliefs that many of us seem unwilling to talk about. Mainly, though, you'll laugh...a lot.
Religulous has an unholy fervor that should start many bonfires.
About half of the movie works in its snide, hit-and-run way. The other half throws more and more darts at the same balloon, long after it pops.
Maher sets out not after answers but cheap laughs that preach, so to speak, to the converted.
Bill Maher admittedly dresses a one-sided anti-religion diatribe in documentary linens and the hypocrites he finds make great punchlines. But he also addresses the historically proven truth of faith perverted for power and the danger posed to us all.
Rather disconcertingly, the film builds towards a vision of the apocalypse, the destructive fate that religious conflicts have in store for us -- a version of the future any hellfire preacher would be proud of.
Borat/Bruno meets Michael Moore in this funny and thought provoking attack on religion.
So if you are not already on-side with [Maher's] particular leanings, the pickings in Religulous are very slim indeed.
The Passion of the Maher
Instead of confronting real problems radiating from the world's major religions Mr. Maher and Mr. Charles opt for Borat redux, making fun of silly little yokels.
Ever the clever quipper, Bill Maher tackles religious dogma and ritual%u2013and Bibles tales%u2013in this documentary of irreverence. The film is witty and pointedly critical%u2013but it's no revelation.
Ultimately, the movie is an impotent howl into the wind.
Click for full review
Wants to be a wakeup call in a room where the people are willing to sleep just a little too deeply.
I'm all for a documentary about the mass hysteria of our warring creeds, but stand-up satirist Bill Maher turns out to be the wrong man to make it.
Maher has gone for easy targets. He comes up with the odd funny gag, but you get the feeling that he is as dogmatic about his doubt as the believers are about their faith.
Often funny, frequently unfair, mostly simplistic, at times offensively unethical and ultimately limited.
It was much more thought-provoking than I was expecting, but his blatant bias made me feel that he was no less a fundamentalist than the religious people he was criticising.
Fortunately for filmgoers, the sight of Bill Maher laying the smacketh down on God is, to quote Homer Simpson, truly "sacrilicious".
Maher crucifies the kooks. What he singularly fails to do, though, is engage with anyone sensible. By mocking the loonies he squanders the precious high ground. A real pity.
Shooting fish in a barrel is the order of the day in comedian Bill Maher's faintly tiresome attack on religion.
A refreshingly courageous and long overdue lecture that is equally enlightening, entertaining and provocative.
Smart, hilarious and thoroughly entertaining.
Audience Reviews for Religulous
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Religulous yet.
What's Hot On RT
Pictures from a zombie nation
Woody Allen in San Francisco
See the Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Where does This Is the End rank?
Latest News on Religulous
February 16, 2009:
RT on DVD: High School Musical 3 or Midnight Meat Train?It's a good week for mediocre films (Body of Lies, Changeling, Quarantine and Flash of Genius, which...
October 2, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Chihuahua to Overtake MultiplexesHollywood kicks off the fourth quarter with a stampede of new releases that will test the elasticity...
August 14, 2008:
Lionsgate Blitzes Fourth-Quarter Box OfficeFive years ago, Lionsgate was a small but respectable indie -- and look how times have changed: the...
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 770676002 Title: Religulous Release Date: 2008-09-06 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
Horror Movie Mistakes
Moviefone offers up 8 of the most obvious glaring errors in popular fright flicks.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Video Interviews with Cast & Crew of Monsters University 0
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 1
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 23
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 101
- Weekly Ketchup: Man of Steel Sequel In the Works 194
- Five Favorite Films with Joss Whedon 127
- Bonus Footage of the Cast & Crew of Man of Steel 1
Top Headlines
Foreign Titles
- Religolo (FR)
"Heaven help us."
Religulous is an opinion film at its core. This is a movie where one man, Bill Maher goes around talking to religious cooks and church members, which allows him to try to refute all their beliefs and instead pass on his opinion of religion. For a lot of people this technique really wouldn't work for a documentary. If your opinion doesn't hold much weight then your film will fall because of that. This isn't the case with Bill Maher and Religulous. The reason: because Bill's opinion's are backed up with solid ideas to back them up.
This isn't a movie that someone who is very religious should be seeing because you won't enjoy it and you know that going in. However, if you're an atheist, there will be a much greater chance you love this, because a lot of the same reasons you are an atheist are Bill's too. Then there are the people like me(Bill included in this group), that aren't religious at all and fail to ever become religious because there are way too many unanswered questions and absolutely no facts or proof. In the end, all these holy books seem to be are stories and most of the early religions stories are pretty damn similar.
This really is a movie that I enjoyed more than my score of it indicates. I'm giving it a good, but not great rating, because it fails to become anything more than just an opinion film. If I were to rate this on how entertained I was and how much I enjoyed it, I would be able to give it a much higher rating. As far as a recommendation would go, I would give it a mild one. This isn't a film I'd recommend to my grandma or father, but to friends who do think alike, I would. In the end though, it should be pretty easy to decide if this is a film for you. Are you religious? If yes, pass on it. If no, give it a look.